Walking Trees

“Saddle up! In ten minutes we meet at the chopper pad”! Just the words we never relished hearing. This meant just one thing. We were off on another assignment. They were called Charlie Alfa’s. In laymen’s terms “Combat Assaults.” At that time I had no idea that 25 of these special assignments would win all of us an “air medal”. I have no idea who was keeping the books on these things nor did I ever care. I suspect that every “grunt” assigned to the First Air Cavalry qualified after just two months of combat service. Our “gear” was always ready. We were on “red alert” every time we were on “stand down” resting in a secure place until called. We always wanted to know what we were heading to and for what purpose but rarely did we get much if any information. We were just told that an enemy unit was spotted from the air and we were to go out and investigate. It was to be a “quiet” investigation. We were “echo company” and our specialty was recon. That means we were specialists at gathering information behind enemy lines with the intent of not coming into contact with the enemy if at all possible. We were to find the enemy and since we were only about 28 in number we tried to avoid fighting at all costs. That was for the bigger combat companies, namely companies A, B, C, and D all of which had about 100 soldiers. We were however all from the 1st Air Cav. and proud to be known as such. There were five or six helicopters waiting for us and we piled in and in no time we were off. The only one who could give us information was the helicopter machine gunner. He said that we were hoping it would be a quiet landing. We went with an escort of two “cobras” and a small Loach helicopter so we knew this was serious stuff. Helicopters need open space to land in and once we got to the dropping zone about 20 minutes later we jumped off and hurried to a clump of trees and hit the ground and waited. The tree line was about two hundred yards in front of us from all sides. Our company commander was waiting for his next orders that would be given by telephone. About 30 minutes later I heard my company commander whisper “Richner prepare to move out”. He gave me the compass numbers and being the point man that day I did a quick check. While that was taking place everyone was also getting prepared to move towards the tree line. So as to not need to constantly check one’s compass reading while on the move I learned to pick out as large of a target as possible and head to that target. It was usually a large tree. By doing this we could pay special attention to what might be ahead of us.
The army gave me very little training as a point man. It was more a matter of instincts and vision and attention to detail. No one volunteered for this job. I only found out later that point men were basically replacing other dead point men. That is why I was there. I was there however because God assigned me to this task. This I was assured of. He gave me training back in the woods of Pennsylvania as a squirrel hunter. What more did I need? As my eyes were finding a large target, preferably a large tree at the compass reading my company commander gave me I was immediately alarmed. It was squirrel hunting 101 right before my eyes. I learned a long time ago as a boy that trees don’t move but squirrels do. About 200 yards ahead of me I saw small trees moving and stopping, moving and stopping and I had never seen this happen in all my life. I alerted my company commander and he asked if I was sure. I said, absolutely certain. He then got on the telephone and called for immediate help. We remained still in that little clump of trees. The 28 of us and we had no idea how many enemy soldiers were out there. One promise stood out in my mind. In our combat infantry training we were told that once the alert was given for help, we would just have to keep the enemy occupied with our M16’s for ten minutes. Help would then be at our sides. I personally don’t think they kept that promise. It seemed like light years. All of a sudden to my left a number of enemy soldiers not knowing we were in the clump of trees started heading in our direction. We did what our instincts and training taught us. We engaged “the heavily armed walking trees”. Artillery shells began pummeling the ground and tree line all around us. “Cobra helicopters with mini guns firing and a host of “flying angels (helicopters filled with 1st Cav. Grunts)” combat comrades were brought to our side by unites on “red alert”. Not one of those soldiers in that little clump of trees were injured that day. A miracle! I don’t think so. I call it Providence.
What an ending. Abrupt because I have a pastor’s prayer breakfast to attend in 15 minutes. Love you!
Dad